Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-21
PROFIT SHARING.
INSTANCE OF DIVIDING
THE RESULTS OF LABOR.
First Annual Assemblage for Divid.
ing the Surplus-Highly Sat
isfactory Results.

whom are actively at work upon the
ground, and by thorough acquaintance
with all the details of this most important
industry, they have established valuable
plant in a community where the manu-
facture of shoes has been e-eminently
the most extensive business of the town.
The head of the firm, Ara Cpshman, en-
joys the esteem and confidence not only of
his employees, but of his fellow-workmen
generally, and is actively identified with
the social, business and intellectual con-
Germs OF the city where the venture of his
youth has grown TO the large proportions
indicated. He is q man of generous i'm
pulses, a wide reader and careful student
of economic problems, useful member of
the church, of hospitable nature and cor
dial manner, and in the conduct of the in
dustry which bears his name there has al
ways been less of friction between master
and men than in many other shoe factories
of New England. One year ago, on the
9th of March, 1886, his operatives assem-
bled in public hall to listen to a carefully
prepared address from Mr.. Cushman, in
which he proposed
PLAN OF PROFIT SHARING
For the ensuing year on the following
basis: A fair amount to be allowed for
interest on capital invested, management
of the business, and for risks, depreciation
and other contingencies; if then any profit
remained it was to be divided between en-
ployers and their help in the proportion
that labor bears to the rest of the cost OF
goods. The control of the business was to
remain in the hands of the firm, while three
of the employees were to be selected as rep
resentatives with whom the firm might
arrange the details of the plan, and who
were to be sufficiently informed in regard
to the condition and results of business, so
that at the end of the year they could
report whether the conditions agreed upon
had been faithfully carried out. It's need
less to remark that Mr.. Cushman's PROPOSE
ton was received with varying degrees of
favor. Many were pronounced in its sup
port some were doubtful of its expediency;
others of the employees looked upon it with
suspicion. The general public, unac-
quainted with cooperative enterprises in
either Lewiston or Auburn, twin sisters
geographically, but of widely contrasted
industrial activities, held aloof either from
approval or condemnation. 1t was not
generally believed that the plan would be
a striking success at the close of the first
year, and of late, as the time drew near for
the announcement of its working, some of
the operatives, utterly faithless, sold their
right to dividends for sums that were
merely nominal.
WHAT is THE RESULT?
Friday evening, April 10Th, the en-
ployees, between 700 and 800 in number,
met in Auburn Hall, where they had gath
cred but little more than one year ago, in a
culver of excitement to hear the returns of
their employers and to listen to the report
of their own committee. The first speaker,
a representative mechanic, and one of the
number appointed to see that conditions
stipulated at the beginning of the year had
been observed, began his address by re-
buking the incredulity and suspicion with
which many received the proposition of
the firm; and he continued By advising
his fellowworkmen that only confidence
and goodwill toward their employers
could make profit-sharing a still grander
success during the year upon which they
had entered On behalf of the committee
the speaker then announced that, in addi-
ton to wages received, fully as high as the
market rate would allow, the firm had de-
clared
DIVIDEND OF FOUR PER CENT.
Instantly vociferous cheers, oft repeated,
shook the hall, and handkerchiefs luttered
in the air, EXPLANATIONS of delight were
everywhere heard, while from the center
of the hall popped up a gray-haired man,
who shouted, Three cheers more for Ara
Cushman" The scene was iudescribable,
and only when the enthusiasm had some
what abated could the speaker proceed to
state some interesting facts, among which
are the following The business Of the year
had reached the sum OF 81 ,269 262 there
was paid ont fer labor alone $2S3, pa 81,
and of this amount the employees received
each week the earnings of the previous
week the dividend dis5ursed among men,
women and children reached a total of
nearly $4,000, in business larger than
that of any previous year by more than
$4,000. 1t was then declared by their
representative that in all probability
THE DIVIDEND MIGHT HAVE BEEN LARGER,
If only the operatives had learned to be
more careful and economical in the use of
materials and he-asserted that he had seen
ten cents worth Of value wasted III single
day. In closing, all present were advised
not to be governed by the passions and pre-
JUDGES of ill-informed agitators, but to be
loyal to the business and their employers,
as the only means of securing future pros
perity. AS an appeal to workingmen by
workingmen, the report of the committee
was admirable for its candor, common
sense and knowledge of perils still beset-
ting the enterprise so happily inaugurated.
Mr.. Cushman was then most enthusiast
cally welcomed by the audience, to whom
he talked for more than half an hour on
the present industrial situation. bringing
home to the average understanding many
of the plainest economic truths overlooked
in much of the current labor literature. 1t
may be said, in general, of this successful
experiment in proft-sharing, that it
PROVES THE soUNDNEss AND PRACTICALLY
OF THE PRINCIPLE
Under given conditions. In well-estab-
lished business, conducted by men trained
to management, where working people are
willing to depute to chosen and capable
representatives of their own class the Gus
tody of their interests, without an itching
desire to examine the books every day for
themselves, protit-sharing is wholly feas-
ible. And, as in the present case, every
year of success is an additional tie that
binds employer and employee more closely
together Again, as this committee asserts,
a constant effort on the part of the en-
plCye TO do his work or her work as if they
were doing it for themselves, and an effort
to Undue others with the same spirit, will
bring the dividend And by developing
such spirit of fraternity between the en-
ing together of interests, the chance of
trouble and dissatisfaction is reduced to q
minimum when year of business depres-
sion arrives, in which no dividend can be
declared.
BETTER PAY DESIRABLE.
1t is not declared, either by Mr.. Cushman
or the committee, that the condition of
wage-earners or employers is as good as it
ought to be, or might be. The committee
frankly says, We all want more pay, and
if we can get it elsewhere we are not doing
our duty to ourselves or families by work
ing for Asa Cushman & Co. at sacrifice"
Mr. Cushman holds that the percentage OF
profit accruing to the manufacturer has
sensibly diminished in the last forty years.
But when capital and labor are at war the
chance of mutual gain is still further cur
tailed. Therefore, profit sharing, by slim
uiating the industry of the laborer and
quickening the business foresight OF the
capitalist, tends to advance the ratio of
profit, either in wage or dividend. And it
is the mutual and intelligent recognition of
these and other facts which has made the
experiment described noteworthy one in
the history of cooperative industry
Christian Union.